I find that capitalism only works in an honest society. Taught this philosophy to my son, few months later he lightly hit a car in a parking lot (old car, scratched bumper) and he waited for the driver to show up. As I was congratulating him for doing the right thing, they showed up a day later with a $450.00 estimate which I painfully paid (knowing they used his honesty as a windfall).

Second time he got hit at a 4 way stop intersection (he was turning left, the guy that hit him rolled slowly through without stopping) so they pulled over and the guy was apologetic, gave him his info, claimed responsibility, and my son didnt call the cops based on that (and the damage was limited to the rear quarter panel). The guy flipped his story later, my son got stuck with a 1450.00 estimate.

Third time our neighbor backed into his truck and put a nice big dent in it. He left a long apologetic note and actually owned up to it.

It just goes to show you :

Honesty is the best policy but be prepared to be taken advantage of.....

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

It's hard to believe it's been a year. Was sitting in the same turn lane behind another car this morning and the congealed oil patch from the SDL is still there. I still miss that car.

On a more positive note the 350SD that came along to pick up where the SDL left off is more or less completed at this point, much from the benefit of the parts that the SDL graciously donated to the cause. Over the last year, that car gave up so much to help so many. The head went to Arizona, the differential went to South Texas, the rebuilt half-shafts and freshly rebuilt turbo went to Ft. Worth, the carpets went to California, the engine mount arms and various other hardware went to Georgia, the Auxiliary fan and bracketry went to Houston, one of the wheels went to Boerne, the rear seat motor went to Minnesota, the ABS computer went to Oklahoma, and that's just what I remember off the top of my head. The car may be gone, but it still lives on in spirit!

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)